Chandigarh, January 13
By having announced the state government’s decision to enhance the amount of compensation for victims of natural calamities, the Haryana Finance Minister, Mr Birender Singh, has tried to turn the spotlight on himself from his colleague, Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, who holds the Revenue portfolio.

The Revenue Department handles the subject of giving compensation in the case of natural calamities and had moved the proposal of enhancing the compensation amounts.

Following instructions issued by the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, a committee was constituted under the chairpersonship of the Principal Secretary, Revenue, Ms Promilla Issar, to examine the issue of increasing the compensation for the victims of natural calamities. The recommendations by the committee were passed on to the Finance Department for approval and that brought the Finance Minister into the picture.

Ideally, the Chief Minister should have announced the good news to people since it was he who had taken the initiative to revise the compensation amounts. Or, the Minister in charge of the Revenue Department, Captain Yadav, should have made the announcement. But instead it was the Finance Minister who came out with a press statement running into over 700 words to publicise the government’s decision on Wednesday. This reporter had talked to functionaries of the Revenue Department on Wednesday evening. It was found that they had no knowledge about the press statement issued by the Finance Minister on the basis of a proposal drawn up by them.

The statement issued by the Finance Minister said the decision to enhance the compensation had been taken to mitigate problems of the farming community and the poor strata of society affected by natural calamities.

Earlier also Mr Birender Singh had ruffled feathers when he announced the state government’s step of raising the rate of stamp vendors’ commission and increasing the ceiling for the sale of non-judicial and court fee stamps. This subject, too, fell within the purview of Captain Yadav.

Ambala, January 13
The Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee working president, Dr Ram Prakash said that INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala must make his stand clear on his association with the BJP.

Talking to mediapersons here last night, Dr Ram Prakash observed that Mr Chautala was extending support to the BJP in the Punjab Assembly election. He said that people had a right to know his exact stand with regard to the BJP. “Mr Chautala is supporting Mr Badal even though Mr Badal’s views on the SYL canal are well known,” he said.

He said the stand of the Congress in Haryana remains unchanged for the SYL canal. The canal is the lifeline of farmers in the state and it should be completed at the earliest, he asserted.

To a query on Mr Bhajan Lal and Mr Kuldeep Bishnoi, Dr Ram Prakash said that it was an internal matter of the party. He, however, suggested that leaders should not cross the ‘Lakshman Rekha’. He claimed that the Congress workers were all united.

Regarding the demonstrations by the INLD, Dr Ram Prakash said these were attempts to mislead people. “We have kept our election promises. We are completing what we had promised during the election period. We will be releasing a booklet on our works during the Sirsa rally to be held on February 25.”

“The Haryana Government is making sincere efforts to improve the power situation in the state. There is a demand for 9000 mw of power, while 4000 mw of power is being produced. The Haryana Government has already made concrete efforts to boost the power generation,” he said.

A proposal is being considered for separating the power supply for domestic use and the tubewells in the rural areas. “Work is already on for Dadupur-Nalwi and Hansi-Butana canals and water will reach the farmers.”

Dr Ram Prakash said the Haryana Government had created a suitable environment for industrialisation. He said that SEZ would generate employment.

Fatehabad, January 13
The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) organised a demonstration here yesterday to protest against what it termed as “anti-people policies” of the Haryana Government.

Party activists and supporters led by Mr Abhey Singh Chautala assembled at Ram Sewa Samiti Dharamshala, near the local bus stand, and took out a march till the Mini-Secretariat.

The INLD gave a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner to be forwarded to the Governor, Haryana. The party, in its memorandum, accused the Congress government in the state of working against the interests of farmers and common people.

Addressing party activists, Mr Chautala alleged that the state government had given land near Gurgaon worth Rs 1,00,000 crore to Reliance for a paltry sum of Rs 350 crore.

He said a large number of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) being sanctioned by the state government were a part of a bigger scam and these would spell doom for farmers in Haryana.

Mr Abhey Singh alleged that the Congress had come to power in the state by making false promises to people but it had not honoured any of those during its two years in power.

He charged the Hooda government with pursuing policies of regional bias and said the construction of the Hansi-Butana link canal through which water from Fatehabad, Sirsa, Hisar and Jind areas is to be taken to the area of the Chief Minister, was one example of the attitude of the government.

He also criticised the government on the law and order front and said it was mum over the brutal murder of 29 persons in Gurgaon during the past few months. He demanded a CBI probe into the Gurgaon killings.

Mr Ram Pal Majra, organising secretary of the INLD, said the Hooda government had no control over the administration.

The INLD MLAs, Dr Sushil Indora and Mr Gian Chand Odh, and senior party leaders Mr Nishan Singh, Mr Atam Parash Batra, Mr Ram Raj Mehta, Mr Kuljeet Singh and Ms Krishana Poonia also addressed the agitating workers.

Kaithal, January 13
Five persons, including members of the local Lions Club and their guests, suffered burn injuries when bonfire lit for Lohri engulfed them. Two of those injured were referred to the PGI, Chandigarh, and the rest were admitted to a local nursing home.

A few members of the Lions Club (Grace) had assembled at a restaurant to celebrate the Lohri festival. At about 9.30 p.m., before the dinner, a few persons tried to lit the bonfire. But the did not ignite. Someone among the guests asked for kerosene. By that time a staff of the restaurant had used thinner to lit the fire. All those standing in front of it were caught unaware. There were cries all around. Members frantically tried to douse the fire and save their colleagues and family members. However, five of them suffered burn injuries. Sushil Chhabra and his wife, who suffered severe burn injuries were rushed to the PGI, Chandigarh and three others, including Rimpy Gaba and Monika of the Lions Club President, Mr Jatinder Gaba, and Sunny, son of Sunil Miglani, were admitted to Shah Nursing Home. Another victim, Naveen Miglani (40), who suffered minor injury, was discharged after first aid.

Badhra (Bhiwani), January 13
Haryana is the first state in the country where farmers killed during agitations launched by them from time to time for their demand of electricity, have been given the status of “martyr”, besides giving their next of kin a government job.

Paying homage to the killed farmers at a condolence meeting held at Hadodi village in the Badhra Assembly constituency yesterday, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Dharmbir Singh said the seniors of the village should constitute a private fund and collect money from within the villages for the education and other needs of the relatives of the deceased farmers. He also announced to give Rs 1 lakh from his discretionary fund for this scheme.

The condolence meeting was held to pay tributes to those 18 farmers of Hadodi village who were killed in a road accident four years ago when they were going to Badhra to demand the replacement of electricity transformer. Four Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam employees were also killed in the accident.

He said the state government had completed the survey to identify the families living below the poverty line and the list of these families would be released soon.

Mr Dharambir Singh said after due process, the genuine families, which were left out earlier, would be given the benefits under the BPL scheme.

Fatehabad, January 13
Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) has decided to launch a scheme of incentive and rewards for best performance by the field staff of the operation wing.

A spokesman of the nigam said here yesterday that cash rewards of Rs 10,000, Rs 12,500 and Rs 25,000 would be given to the best operation circle, the best operation division and the best operation subdivision, respectively, on half-yearly basis.

The nigam has decided to give cash rewards for improving performance parameters to individuals also such as subdivisional officers, junior engineers, linemen, assistant linemen, clerks and accounts staff on half-yearly basis for achieving improvements in operational and revenue parameters.

The rewards would be given on the basis of the quantum of increase in revenue realisation, reduction of line losses, detection of power theft cases and recovery, recovery of defaulting amounts, reduction in rate of damage of distribution transformers and return of damaged transformers to stores, reduction in tripping and breakdowns, upkeep of substations, submission of material at site accounts, timely submission of monthly accounts, etc.

Ambala, January 13
An exhibition on environment was organised at Darshan Academy here today to mark the conclusion of the environment project week.

School principal Mathew Varghese said various programmes on environment were held during the week. He said the school students visited Shahpur village and generated awareness about biogas among the villagers.

The exhibition was inaugurated by Government College Principal Dr S.S. Phulia. The models prepared by the students included nuclear reactor, depletion of ozone layer, biogas plant, answering machine, condensation and evaporation, verification of solid figures, measurement of height and distance.